Facelift for ISS
2008-11-18 10:43
Cape Canaveral, Florida - Astronauts hitched a giant shipping crate full of home improvement gear to the international space station on Monday, a critical step for boosting the population in orbit.
It was the first major job for the crews of the linked space station and space shuttle Endeavour, and highlighted their first full day together.
"We're here to work," the space station's skipper, Mike Fincke, called down. "This is the can-do crew."
More than 6 35kgs of gear was stuffed into the 6.5m container that flew up on Endeavour and was hoisted onto the space station. It held an extra toilet, refrigerator and kitchenette, exercise machine and sleeping compartments, and a new recycling system for converting urine into drinking water.
Fincke called it "the goodies... things needed for an extreme home makeover."
Nasa cannot double the number of space station residents from three to six next year until all the equipment - most notably the water recycling system - has been installed and tested. Additional equipment will be launched in February.
Until now, the space station has been a one-kitchen, one-bath, three-bedroom house. That third bedroom is actually a makeshift nook in the US lab. The orbiting outpost is on the verge of becoming a two-kitchen, two-bath, five-bedroom home and will have six full bedrooms in a few more months.
Mission Control burst into applause and cheers after astronaut Don Pettit announced that the hatch had been opened between the station and the cargo container, nicknamed "Leonardo".
"We're very proud to announce that Leonardo made it aboard the space station safely," Pettit said. "The hatch is open and no damage or anything is noted... It looks beautiful."
Astronaut Sandra Magnus - the newest space station resident - spent Monday getting used to her new home. She flew up on Endeavour and promptly traded places with Gregory Chamitoff, who's headed home after a six-month mission. Magnus will spend three-and-a-half months on board.
Besides being moving day for the 10 space travellers, Monday involved gearing up for the first of four planned spacewalks.
On Tuesday, two of the shuttle crew will venture outside and begin the most complicated cleaning and lube job ever attempted in orbit. One of two massive joints that turn the space station's solar wings toward the sun has been jammed for more than a year; it's clogged with metal grit from grinding parts. They'll also squirt some grease onto the joint that's working fine, to prevent any future hang-ups. The work will fill up all four spacewalks.
"We have a little cleaning and greasing to do," said astronaut Stephen Bowen, who will step out Tuesday. The objective is to make the joint "come back to life," he said.
- AP